


Feelings

by kaianieves



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Future Fic, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21831070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaianieves/pseuds/kaianieves
Summary: “Are we there yet?” Patience asked quietly.“About fifty minutes away. If the roads stay clear, half an hour.”“It almost doesn’t feel real.” She whipped the sweater off of her face.“It’s only five hours,” Alex said. How many times had she said that now? At this point it was more a reminder for herself than anything. It hadn’t really sunk in yet, that Patience would be gone tomorrow when she returned home. That she would never really be coming home, because she’d always leave again.Realizing that things would never be the same at sixty miles per hour kind of feels like a car crash within itself.
Relationships: Alex Jones & Claire Novak, Alex Jones & Claire Novak & Patience Turner, Alex Jones/Patience Turner, Jody Mills & Claire Novak, Patience Turner & Jody Mills
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Feelings

“I think that’s the last of it,” Patience said. She reached up, pulling down her car’s trunk door.

“Are you sure? Maybe we should check your room one more time,” Jody said.

“We’re sure, Mom,” Alex said.

Moving day. Patience knew this was going to be hard. She’d seen all the movies, about kids moving away from their families, trading their childhood bedrooms for shitty dorm rooms and wild frat parties. She never thought she’d be living it.

Jody’s lip puckered as her eyes started to well a little. “I’m sorry, I just--”

Patience moved in for the hug before she could finish her sentence. She closed her eyes as Jody’s arms wrapped around her in return.

“I’m going to miss you kid,” Jody said.

“Me too,” Patience said. “Thank you. For everything.”

They let go, Alex stepping in to give her mom a quick hug. “I should be home by tomorrow.”  _ Without Patience _ went unsaid.

As soon as Patience got into the car and buckled her seat belt, she immediately wanted to get out. Go back inside. Forget university even existed. Call the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and tell them to rescind her acceptance, or delay it by a year. Something.

“She’s really going to miss you, y’know,” Alex said, getting in the driver’s seat.

“Maybe this is a mistake,” Patience said.

“You know it’s not. It feels that way  _ right  _ now. Two weeks, two months from now… you’ll feel differently,” she said. “I did.”

“And then you came back,” Patience said.

“There’s a reason for everything, right?” Alex asked. “I couldn’t leave her here alone with Claire gone all of the time.” She watched Jody standing in the driveway from the rear view mirror. Then Alex looked back at Patience. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she said.

The drive from Sioux Falls to Rapid City is five hours long, in a relatively geographically straight line. Looping onto the I-90 felt oddly final.

“Are you excited?” Alex asked, turning down the radio.

“I mean, I was,” Patience said. It was funny how things worked like that. Everyone was so excited for change until it actually came. “You know, when I was in middle school I used to have this vision board.”

“A vision board?”

“I know how stupid it sounds. It had all these college mag clippings and university brochures. Stanford, Harvard, Cornell- the Ivys and then some. I’m kind of happy life didn’t turn out that way, though.”

“Why?” Alex asked. Her eyes were still on the road.

“It’s better to be five hours away from the people I love and doing what I want than being on a different coast and hating every minute of it,” Patience said.

The only reason she was in this car right now was because of Alex, after all.

_ It was a late night, mid-summer a year before. Patience was staring at her laptop, occasionally scrolling. It was embarrassing. Or at least, she thought it was. _

_ “What are you doing?” _

_ Patience jumped from her spot on the couch. It was Alex. She stood in the doorway, hair in a ponytail, dressed in her work scrubs. _

_ “Uh, browsing…” Patience said. She closed the laptop. _

_ “That makes it sound like you’re watching porn,” Alex said. Patience’s eyes grew wide before a smile broke out across Alex’s face. “I’m just messing with you.” _

_ Patience let out a sigh. “Well it’s about as pathetic,” she said. Alex raised her eyebrows in question. “I’m thinking about taking some makeup courses, to get my diploma.” _

_ “What’s embarrassing about that?” she asked. _

_ “The principle of having to do it in the first place..? I don’t know. I should be with my peers at some school worth more than my weight in gold right now. Instead I’m watching as other people fight monsters and I… sit on my ass all day.” _

_ Alex moved further into the living room, sitting down next to Patience. She lifted the laptop’s screen up, watching as it came back on by itself, booting up a web-page. “SD Mines?” _

_ “It’s a school that specializes in STEM degrees. In Rapid City,” Patience said. _

_ Alex seemed to think over what she said next. “I’m not going to preach to you what you should or shouldn’t do, Patience. But I think that the fact that you’re on the website, and considering all of this means that you do want to do it. I mean, screw principles. So maybe your path isn’t what you or other people thought it would be. It’s still yours. That’s what matters.” _

_ Then she yawned. _

_ “Long day?” Patience asked. _

_ “Extremely. I think I’m going to go crash.” Alex got up, patting Patience’s knee. “Night.” _

_ Just before turning down the hall, she stopped and turned. “And it’s not pathetic. At all.” _

Alex turned right onto an exit that led into Mitchell about an hour later. South Burr Street was fairly populated, every business trying to catch a groggy visitor’s attention being so close to the highway.

“Is that a diner?” she asked.

“I could eat,” Patience said.

The diner sat in a parking lot that probably hadn’t been repaved in about twenty five years, standing behind a most certainly abandoned gas station. The specials were painted up in the window, blue words peeling onto the pavement.

Pushing the doors open, the smell of mothballs and burnt coffee hit them both like a wall. An old black man sat at the counter, sipping his coffee and looking over the weekend paper. Two white ladies sat in a corner booth, chatting in whispers over crumbly butter tarts.

Alex and Patience sat at a table across from the painted window, sunlight streaming in clipped by the letters.

A brunette with thick red lipstick and dark eyebrows bustled over to their table, menus under her arm and notepad in hand.

“Good afternoon. What can I start ya’ off with?” she asked all while setting the menus down on the table.

“Can I get a water?”

“I’ll have a coffee,” Alex said.

“Water and a coffee, gotcha’.” She walked away, back behind the counter right up to the grimy industrial coffee maker.

“So where’s Claire today?” Patience asked, opening up a menu. There were at least four separate laminated pages.

“Mexicali? Last time we talked she told me the wraith she’s after was crossing the border.”

“Maybe she’ll come back with a tan,” Patience said.

“Unlikely. She won’t be there long enough,” Alex said. “This time I think she’ll bring us some souvenirs, though.”

“Do you want me to bring you a souvenir back from campus?”

“I expect nothing less.”

“I’ll make sure to get you a key chain,” Patience said. She smiled despite herself, leaning so that her elbows were on the table.

Silence took over the conversation as she continued to inspect the menu. Alex watched the sun out of the window until she said, “Speaking of Claire, I’ve been meaning to say that I’m glad you two, y’know-- Made up.”

“It was less us making up and more her not hating me after her girlfriend died,” Patience said, still focused on the food listings. Hearing it come out of her mouth, she followed it up with, “I’m sorry. That was mean.”

“It wasn’t not true,” Alex said. Patience looked at her curiously.

“Claire wants to hunt. It’s what she’s meant to do. I don’t agree with it all the time, but I respect it. But you also tried to save her life. There’s got to be something to that too.” Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re both important to me; as soon as you walked through that front door, you became family. That’s how it works.”

_ “Where are you going?” Claire asked. Alex stood from the couch, bottle of rubbing alcohol capped in her hand. _

_ “Night shift,” she said simply. _

_ “So Sam and Dean are missing and you’re bailing?” _

_ “I have a job, Claire.” Alex said, the exasperation of an older sister full force in her tone. _

_ “So do I. It’s called hunting,” Claire snarked back. _

_ “About that,” Jody said. _

_ “Look, if this is about me hunting alone, I know I should reach out more but I am fine,” Claire said. “I’m good.” _

_ “No, you’re not!” Jody raised her voice. _

_ “Patience had a vision,” Alex said. _

_ All eyes were on Patience now, Claire’s scrutinizing and icy. _

_ “I... I saw you die,” she said. _

_ Claire scoffed, an unbelieving smile spreading across her face. Jody and Alex’s faces were as serious as ever. “Oh, come on. You’re  _ psychic.  _ Really? You ‘saw me die’?” She held her hands up, making air quotes with her fingers. _

_ “Claire, she’s the real deal,” Jody said. _

_ “Come on, Jody, you can’t be buying this. Do you even know her? What she’s about? How do you know she’s not some freeloader waiting for the perfect time to strike or--” _

_ Patience rose from the couch, walking away from the conversation quickly. _

_ “Claire!” Alex said. She gave her sister the death glare. “Back off.” She left the room, following after Patience. _

_ She stopped at the spare room door, watching as Patience threw her suitcase onto the bed and starting pulling her clothes out of random dresser drawers. _

_ “I didn’t give up everything for her to talk to me like that,” she said under her breath. Her words sounded slightly choked. Eventually, Patience stopped fumbling with her clothes and looked at Alex. “What do you want?” _

_ “Look, I’m sorry about her. That was… completely uncalled for. But if your vision was right, any one of us could be in danger- including you. Jody wouldn’t be able to live with herself is something happened to you. And neither would I.” _

“Here’s your water,” the waitress said, placing a beading glass of ice water in front of Patience. “And that coffee.” She handed Alex the bland white mug, swirls of steam coming off the top. “So what can I get you guys to eat?”

“Can you tell us about today’s special?” Alex asked.

“Sure! This week we’ve got breakfast burritos for a buck a piece. The chef’s brother just came through with a whole bunch of chorizos from Austin n’ we’re tryna’ get rid of ‘em.”

“Two of those sound amazing,” Patience said. She handed her menu back, letting the waitress collect the other one.

“I think I’ve signed us up for food poisoning.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Alex said.

“Well it’s an experience, right? College!” Patience mock fist pumped the air.

“ _ You’re  _ the one going to college.”

“So I get all the fun?” Patience asked. “Because I’m happy not to share.”

“I didn’t say that,” Alex said.

The breakfast burritos ended up being edible-tasting, bordering on decent, and they didn’t make either of them immediately upchuck. Fifteen minutes after being served, they were paying the bill and back in the car again.

Patience decided to get more comfortable before they pulled out of the parking lot, adjusting her seat further back and putting her feet up on the dash.

“You know, a part of me is sort of terrified that this is going to be exactly like high school,” she said.

“Was high school that bad?” Alex asked.

“Would you, optionally, go through high school again?” She craned her neck to make direct eye contact.

Alex was quiet for a minute, probably thinking it over. As the seconds passed, Patience started regretting the question more and more. She knew exactly one thing about Alex’s high school experience, and that was that her first ever boyfriend ended up being a vampire sleeper agent. It wasn’t exactly something you brought out at parties.

“It was great. And then, I guess it wasn’t. And then I graduated. Retrospect’s a bitch, though. Kind of ruins it all, you know? Of course you know,” Alex said, answering her own question. “I feel like high school is  _ supposed _ to suck, though. It kind of humbles you in a way. And then your number one goal is to get out of there, and the easiest way to do that is to graduate.”

“So you’re theorizing that the government decided to create the secondary education system to bully kids into succeeding?” Patience said.

“Exactly. It sounds like something they’d do,” Alex said.

“Says the civil servant.”

“In training,” Alex specified. “Not quite, yet.”

_ “Oh my god, what is that?” Patience asked. _

_ She’d walked into the garage, seeing a regretful sight. Alex was standing over the body of a creature, scalpel in hand, its chest spread open to reveal gooey looking tissue. _

_ “One of the monsters from the boat,” she said. _

_ “You found one?” _

_ “Dug it up,” Alex said absently. She moved a gloved hand inside its chest cavity, rib spreader smeared with blue fluid. _

_ “What are you looking for, exactly?” Patience said. She covered her nose and mouth with her hand. _

_ “Well, we know that this thing is carbon based, and it has a whole nervous system to go with its tentacle-ish face. So maybe if I can figure out what makes it tick, we can figure out it’s weakness.” _

_ “Why would we need to do that?” Alex didn’t respond, continuing her work. “You’re going back,” Patience said matter-of-factly. She stepped in front of Patience, blocking her view from the body.. “Alex, you can’t do that.” _

_ “And I wouldn’t, if I didn’t know that she was planning on it anyway,” Alex said. “I can’t let her get herself killed, Patience.” _

_ “If Claire’s planning on going back, we can stop her. We can tell Jody, or call Donna-” _

_ Alex removed her hand from the creature’s insides. “You know that she’s going to try and do it anyway, no matter what anyone says. How long has it been? A year, with no leads. She’s tired of Jody’s patronizing, and frankly, I would be too.” She seemed to linger on that last part for a moment. _

_ It felt like there was a missing context there, which gave Patience pause for a second. “That doesn’t mean that this is the answer, either. I won’t support you getting yourselves killed.” _

The radio stations kept falling into static every twenty minutes or so from Mitchell onward, until they stopped in Kadoka for gas.

“You want some snacks?” Patience asked. She placed the gas pump in the car’s tank, leaning against the door.

“Sure,” Alex said. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

“I’ll surprise you, then,” Patience called after her.

The bathroom was a puddley mess that immediately made Alex’s skin crawl. She stepped around a small pool of mystery liquid to get to the sink, which was covered in grey-white clumps of soap scum. It was probably the cleanest thing in her vicinity.

She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her contacts. Then Alex raised the phone to her ear, listening to it drone on and ring.

Eventually, the other person picked up. “Hey Alex,” Claire said. “You’re not usually a morning caller.”

“What do you mean? It’s almost one in the afternoon,” Alex said.

“Not over here. Time zones, remember?” Claire reminded her.

“How’s the hunt going?” Alex asked, ignoring her. “Or are you just on vacation?”

“Very funny. I were going to take a vacation it wouldn’t be some culture clash nightmare?”

“Fair enough,” Alex said.

“The hunt is going well. Tracked the wraith to a single neighbourhood block last night, going to do some house interviews. Hopefully talk will be down so it won’t spook him. I could have definitely used your help with this one, though,” Claire said. “How’d leaving go?”

“Mom almost cried.”

“That sounds like Jody.” There was a rustling on Claire’s end. “How’d Patience take it? I’m guessing you’re in the bathroom.”

“She has mixed feelings,” Alex said. “How did you know I was in a bathroom?” She looked up at the ceiling like she would find hidden cameras planted there somewhere.

“‘Cause that’s what you always do,” she said.

_ “Can you chew with your mouth closed?” Alex asked. Claire sat across from her, shoveling chicken pot pie into her mouth with her fork. _

_ “Can you not be such a tight wad?” Claire said, mouth full. Alex rolled her eyes, looking out the window. Jody’s van sat on the other side of the parking lot, neatly parked between the yellow lines. There were a couple other pickups spread across the gravel. _

_ The waitress came by and refilled her coffee, drawing her attention back inside. When she left, Alex said, “So where do you think the wraith went?” _

_ Claire stopped, chewing and swallowing what was in her mouth. “Well, he likes to cross into different states, up from the south and then down again. He might go down to Florida, maybe even cross the border.” _

_ “Should we call Sam and Dean in on this?” _

_ Claire stuck her fork into her last piece of pie. “Do you think we should?” _

_ “I don’t know. We should ask Jody first, though.” _

_ “Oh come on,” Claire complained. _

_ “What?” Alex asked. _

_ “Why do you always run to her for permission?.” _

_ Alex scoffed. “You know what, whatever. I’m going to the bathroom.” _

_ She locked the door behind her, leaning against the single stall’s sink. Alex pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for. Thumb hovering over the name, she weighed the odds of the other end picking up. _

_ It was close to midnight. Jody would be at work. Patience would be at home, alone. Probably asleep, but maybe not. But probably. _

Screw it. _ Alex raised the phone to her ear as it rang. And rang, and rang. She was about to hang up when it finally stopped ringing. _

_ “Hey, Alex. Sorry.” Patience didn’t sound groggy, so she musn’t have gone to bed. _

_ “Hey, it’s fine. I’m the one calling you at midnight,” she said. _

_ “You guys on the road right now?” _

_ “No, we’re stopped for a bite. I’m hiding out in the bathroom,” Alex said. _

_ “Oh,” Patience said. “Are you still in Nebraska?” _

_ “A little outside of Lincoln. Sorry if, uh, you were in the middle of something.” _

_ “I’m procrastinating my admissions essay and waiting for my pizza to arrive. Don’t think that counts as riveting stuff,” Patience said. “So when do you think you’ll get home?” _

_ “Probably another three hours or so,” Alex said. _

_ “Alright. Well, there’ll be pizza when you get here.” _

_ “Yeah, okay. See you soon, then.” She hung up quickly,  _

_ Alex slid back into the vinyl booth seat at their table. Her coffee sat on the table getting cold across from Claire, who was staring at her phone. _

_ “You ready to go?” she asked. _

_ “Definitely,” Alex said. She flagged down the waitress for the bill, paying with the her debit card. Claire left a couple of bills on the table for the tip. _

_ Walking out of the diner into the parking lot, a wall of chilly wind hit the both of them. Alex zipped up her jacket a little more. _

_ “So how’s Patience?” Claire said. _

_ “What do you mean?” Alex asked. _

_ “So you did call her. Right.” _

_ “What does  _ that  _ mean?” _

_ “Nothing,” Claire said, with all of the tact that meant it was something. _

_ “Whatver,” Alex huffed, her face heating up against the cold. “Get in the car.” _

Patience watched as Alex walked away towards the bathroom, waiting a few minutes before removing the pump from the gas tank. She headed towards the station, eyes peeled for candy before she paid for the gas.

For a gas station, the shelves were pretty bare. A few bags of chips and a display of candy bars were the most exciting things it had to offer. That is, until Patience got to the back. The first thing that caught her eye was the giant slushie machine, five different neon-coloured flavours churning around overhead.

She decided on a jumbo cherry slushie and multicoloured jubejubes for Alex, walking up to the cash.

“These two and the gas for pump six, please,” she said.

The man behind the counter took the fourty bucks Patience handed him, giving her three dollars in change. When she got back to the car, she was alone. Alex was still in the bathroom.

There was something about being around Alex. Patience couldn’t exactly describe that something in terms that made any logical sense. When Patience was around her, everything was easy. She knew what to do, and if she didn’t, she could ask.

With everyone else, it always felt like Patience had to land every word right, every action perfect. Balancing on the world’s thinnest tightrope. With Alex, there was none of that. It was a safe place to be.

  
  


Alex opened her door, spotting the large styrofoam cup in Patience’s hand.

“Did you get a slushie?” she asked.

“Cherry. I got you jubejubes.”

“Oh, awesome.”

Patience tossed the bag to her, Alex catching them as she ducked into the car.

Patience dozed off fifty miles later, her slushie slowly melting with the sun beating down on the car. Alex took a sip here and there, the drink progressively getting more liquid and sticky.

She’d noticed that spending time with Patience was nice. Like, the best part of Alex’s day.

Patience was funny, and she made a lot of bad jokes. She was the first person who wasn’t Jody that Alex had seen challenge Claire in any capacity. The buffer between her and Jody was nice once in a while, and she was there when Alex’s sister wasn’t. Patience was the first person in a long time that Alex could see herself in. She’d gotten through the crap and was still trying to do good.

Alex pulled the car over on the highway for a minute to text Jody and let her know they were almost there. Patience woke up when the car went over a particularly large rock back onto the empty road.

“Morning.”

“Are we there yet?” Patience asked quietly.

“About fifty minutes away. If the roads stay clear, half an hour.”

“It almost doesn’t feel real.” She whipped the sweater off of her face.

“It’s only five hours,” Alex said. How many times had she said that now? At this point it was more a reminder for herself than anything. It hadn’t really sunk in yet, that Patience would be gone tomorrow when she returned home. That she would never really be coming home, because she’d always leave again.

Realizing that things would never be the same at sixty miles per hour kind of feels like a car crash within itself.

  
  


Patience didn’t really notice when they got to Rapid City. It was a lot of country highway, and then suddenly they were in a city. Quite the abrupt change in scenery.

The student housing building the GPS brought them to was a tall brick subdivision. The door was open when Alex tried it, a short woman with black and pink hair was standing in the front hall as someone carried a stack of small boxes upstairs. She had a clipboard in her hands, directing people around. Definitely the resident adviser.

She turned when she heard the door open, seeing them both. “Are you a new resident?” she asked.

“I am,” Patience said, stepping forward.

“Name?”

“Patience Turner.”

The woman reviewed her clipboard before looking at her again. “You’re on the second floor, room 206,” the RA said. She reached into a fanny pack on her hip, checking the small numbers written on a key tag before handing them to Patience. “Here you go. House keys and the keys to your room.”

Patience pocketed the keys, heading back out to the car with Alex. They started with the lighter boxes, carrying them up the stairs to the room. Alex waited behind as Patience jimmied her key into the difficult lock. When she finally got it to work, she turned the knob, door swinging open.

The walls were a boring cream colour, the mattress elevated and uncomfortably soft-looking. There was an Ikea desk crammed in the corner, and a lamp right next to it as the main light fixture. There was a window right above where the pillows would go on the bed, and a closet a few steps away from the door. Alex braced for dissapointment.

“This is pretty great,” Patience said. “Don’t you think?” She turned, gauging Alex’s reaction.

“It’s definitely… college,” Alex said.

They set the small boxes down on the desk, moving back and forth between the car and the room with all of Patience’s stuff. Patience opened up a couple, getting out the essentials: A couple changes of clothes for the barely-there closet, bedding, books.

“Remember this?” Patience held a small silver necklace between her fingers for Alex to see.

“Of course I do. I got it for you.”

_ Nineteen, and look where she was. No, not at Columbia Law. A spare bedroom in nowhere, South Dakota, her father not so much as sending her a happy birthday text. Wa-hoo. What a time to be alive. _

_ Someone knocked on the door, making Patience sit up in bed a little more. “Come in,” she said. _

_ The door opened slowly, light coming from the hall creeping further into the bedroom. Alex stood with a hand behind her back. “Hey,” she said. _

_ “Hey. What’s up?” _

_ “I--” She raised her hand from behind her back, revealing a small, wrapped box. “I know it’s your birthday, but I haven’t seen you all day so I thought I’d just come and give this to you.” _

_ “How’d you know it was my birthday?” Patience asked. _

_ “I might have seen it on your laptop calendar the other day,” Alex said. _

_ “Nice. Stalker skills at a hundred.” Alex didn’t laugh. “I’m joking,” Patience said.  _

_ Alex smiled, handing her the box. She didn’t do anything with it for a moment. “Well, open it.” _

_ Patience pulled on the bow, watching it unravel into a thin sparkly strand. She lifted off the top of the box off carefully, peeking inside. Her face was unreadable. Alex’s heart felt like it was in her throat. _

_ “Thank you, Alex. Really,” she said. _

_ “It’s not that big a deal, I thought I’d get you something. It’s silver, so vamp repellent too. Double useful.” _

_ “I love it.” Her eyes lingered on Alex’s face for a moment before Patience stood, leaving the box on the bed to hug her. _

They both looked around the room, boxes either unpacked or stuffed in the corners for later. The room looked more or less set up, if sparsely.

“That’s everything then, right?” Patience asked.

“I guess,” Alex said.

“So where are you staying tonight?”

“I’ll probably book a motel room,” she said.

“You should stay here,” Patience said.

“Where? On the floor?”

“Okay, maybe not. But don’t go yet. The sun hasn’t even set. We should do something.”

“Like what?” Alex asked.

“Dinner,” Patience said. “My treat, since you drove all day.”

The college cafeteria had a variety of options. Patience decided on cold spring rolls, Alex a slice of pizza and a coke. They sat together in the empty expansive room, the sound of the food staff cleaning up for the night in the background.

“So you’re happy with your decision so far?” Alex asked.

“It feels I’ve been whisked away to STEM Hogwarts or something. I think I’ll get used to it,” Patience shrugged. “I am going to miss you, though.”

“You’ll come back on weekends and swamp the laundry machine, just like Claire does and you know it.”

Alex’s stomach felt like it was in knots as she continued to eat. They would never be the same now. Didn’t Patience see that? She already worked so much, plus Patience being so far away with infrequent and probably ill-timed visits. Their friendship- their  _ whatever this was  _ was going to change.

But all Patience said was, “Of course.”

They left just as the custodian started locking up the building, wandering the way back to the student residence slowly.

“This place is honestly beautiful,” Alex said.

“It really is,” Patience agreed. “Too bad you can’t see the stars.”

“I’ll make sure to send you some photos from time to time.”

“That’s mighty kind of you,” Patience said. Alex jabbed her fist into Patience’s shoulder. “Ow.”

“You think you’re hilarious,” Alex said.

“ _ You  _ think I’m hilarious,” she countered. “I make the jokes to make  _ you  _ laugh.”

“Why?”

Patience was thrown off guard by the question. “I don’t know… I guess I like making you laugh? That’s what friends do.”

Alex stopped walking. “Are we friends?” she asked.

“Of course we’re friends. I mean, I’m going to miss you, right?” Patience said.

“That’s not what I mean.” Alex tentatively moved closer. “But I think you already knew that.”

“Alex--”

“No, wait. Okay? Just a second. Because I  _ am  _ going to miss you, but not as a friend Patience. I’m going to miss your jokes and your questions. I’m going to miss the feeling I get around you when we talk, and when we don’t talk. I’m going to miss calling you in the middle of the night on hunts because Claire’s getting on my nerves again.”

Patience stopped her, leaning forward and connecting their lips softly. Then she pulled back, looking Alex in the eye. “I meant to do that a year ago, but it didn’t feel like it mattered then,” she said. “I feel so many things about you. It’s really confusing.”

“I feel a lot of things about you too,” Alex said. “I really don’t want you to leave.”

“I really don’t want you to leave either. But it’s just five hours. I think we can make that work.”

_ “Oh my god, that movie sucked,” Patience said, getting up from the couch. _

_ “I don’t know, I think it was kind of romantic,” Alex said. _

_ “I mean, sure, but they made the biggest deal out of the most first-world problems.” _

_ “Maybe it was a big deal to them. I mean, look at how hard it is to keep in contact with Claire when she’s all over the country. Imagine that, but with the person you love.” _

_ “Okay, that would maybe really suck,” Patience said. “I think it’s just a little unrealistic.” _

_ “I’ll agree with you on that. The plot totally could have had bigger stakes. Like him moving half way across the world or something,” Alex said. _

_ “Imagine moving half way across the world without your girlfriend,” Patience said. _

_ “Now  _ that  _ would suck.  There’s  a good movie for you.” _


End file.
